Our take: Debut EP from this raw punk band out of Portland. Maybe it’s just because I don’t follow the scene closely, but I think it’s cool that there are all of these hardcore bands in Portland that I don’t know about, and then suddenly they’ll drop a record on a label like Distort Reality or Black Water. Sometimes those records disappear without much comment and other times the hype machine will catch on (usually belatedly), but they’re always an interesting listen because Portland is home to so many musicians who are master craftsmen of hardcore and d-beat. Speaking of which, Apocalypse Now features former members of Bog People and Deathcharge, and what little information about them exists online simply says they play in the style of Anti-Cimex. Anyone familiar with Anti-Cimex’s discography knows that can mean any number of things, but Apocalypse Now sound the most like Cimex circa their self-titled 12” EP, when they got a little more song-oriented but hadn’t rocked out to the point that they did on Absolut Country of Sweden. Even more, Apocalypse Now remind me of Deathcharge’s early stuff. Like their The Hangman single in particular, these four tracks are d-beat, but d-beat overlaid with a brooding, almost melancholy atmosphere. That atmosphere isn’t as prominent as it was in Deathcharge, but it’s still there, buried deep in the structures of Apocalypse Now’s riffs and arrangements. While this EP is unpretentious and straightforward in its presentation, that atmosphere elevates this well above the level of your typical 2010s d-beat revival band. If you like d-beat but you aren’t a purist and still believe bands can do something interesting with the format in this day and age I highly recommend checking this out.